Draft gear removal jack



United States Patent 3,534,942 DRAFT GEAR REMOVAL JACK Robert L.Carlson, Chicago, Ill., assignor to W. H. Miner Inc., Chicago, 111., acorporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. No. 687,586

Int. Cl. B66f 3/24 US. Cl. 254-93 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Ahydraulic jack assembly, for use in removing a draft gear assembly fromthe draft gear pocket of a railway car, comprising a housing having anopen end and a closed end wall, a piston slidable axially in thehousing, and stationary means carried by the housing and engageable bythe piston for limiting the stroke of the latter outwardly of thehousing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present inventionrelates generally to a railway car having a draft gear pocket in whichis mounted a draft gear and yoke assembly, and more particularlypertains to a hydraulic jack assembly engageable in the draft gearassembly and operable to compress the draft gear to permit the draftgear assembly to be removed from the draft gear pocket.

Description of the prior art There have been proposed various hydraulicjacks for incorporation between the yoke and the draft gear of a draftgear assembly, and operable to compress the draft gear to permit thedraft gear assembly to be removed from the draft gear pocket of arailway car. Heretofore, such jack assemblies have been of relativelylow capacity, have been designed for use with limited types of yokesand/or have been complicated in operation and expensive to manufactureand assemble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The hydraulic jack assembly of the presentinvention is adapted to be engaged between a cross pin seated in the keyslot of the yoke and the plunger of the draft gear. More particularly,the jack assembly is provided with stationary means carried by the jackhousing interiorly of i the jack piston and engageable by the piston forlimiting the stroke of the latter outwardly of the housing. With thisarrangement, the stroke of the piston is limited positively, operatordiscretion is eliminated in connection with the extent of expansion ofthe jack, and a high capacity jack is afforded with a minimum axiallength. In addition, the jack assembly is adapted for use with a numberof different types of yokes, and is simple in operation and inexpensiveto manufacture and assemble.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary horizontalview, partly in section and partly in elevation, of a railway car, adraft gear assembly, and the draft gear removal jack of the presentinvention in an initial mounted position;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal view, partly in section and partly in elevation,taken substantially along the line 22 in FIG. 1, looking in thedirection indicated by the arrow;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view corresponding generally to FIG. 2, butillustrating the jack assembly in an expanded position;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken substantiallyalong the line 4-4 in FIG. 2, looking in the direction indicated by thearrows; and

3,534,942 Patented Oct. 20, 1970 ice DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is indicated generallyby the reference numeral one end of the longitudinally extendinginverted generally U-shaped, center sill of a railway car. The centersill 10 is stationary relative to the railway car and comprises an upperhorizontal wall portion 12 and vertical side -wall portions 14 and 16.Secured to the side walls 14 and 16 are a pair of forward lugs 18 and apair of rearward lugs 20. The pairs of lugs 18 and 20 are longitudinallyspaced to define the usual draft gear pocket 22.

A conventional draft gear 24 is engaged within the draft gear pocket 22.The draft gear 24 includes a hollow housing 26 with a closed end wallnormally abutting the rear lugs 20, and a hollow plunger 28 slidable inthe housing and having a closed end wall normally abutting the frontlugs 18. Extending between the plunger and housing end walls interiorlythereof are a plurality of resilient pad units (not shown) whichnormally maintain the draft gear 24 in expanded position. A generallyC-shaped yoke 30 extens about and longitudinally of the draft gear 24and serves to define therewith a draft gear assembly. The forward endsof the arms of the yoke 30 are provided with openings 32. Extendingacross the bottom of the draft gear pocket 22 are a pair of transversebraces 34.

In normal use, a coupler member (not shown) is arranged at the forwardend of the draft gear assembly, the rear shank portion of the couplermember engages the plunger 28, and a draft key (not shown) is disposedtransversely through the shank and the yoke openings 32. Buff forcesimposed on the coupler member are transmitted directly to the plunger 28which is moved rearwardly within the housing 26 while the rear lugs '20serve as reaction members. Draft forces imposed on the coupler memberare transmitted by the draft key and yoke 30 to the housing 26 which ismoved forwardly over the plunger 28 while the front lugs 18 serve asreaction members. In both cases, the resilient pad units within thedraft gear 24 serve to absorb the buff and draft forces.

When the draft gear assembly is to be removed from the draft gear pocket22 and the center sill 10, it is necessary to compress axially the draftgear 24 in order to release the latter from engagement with the pairs oflugs 18 and 20. In this connection, the draft key and coupler member arefirst removed. Then, a cross pin 36 is inserted with its ends in theyoke openings 32, and a hydraulic jack assembly 38, constructed inaccordance with the present invention, is disposed intermediate of thecross pin 36 and the draft gear plunger 28. To initially locate the jackassembly 38 in position, shim means 40 is inserted between the cross pin36 and the jack assembly.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the jack assembly 38comprises a cylindrical housing 42 having an open end and a closed endwall 44. A central axial spindle 46 is suitably secured in the end wall44 and projects toward the open end of the housing 42. A circumferentialgroove 48 is formed in the spindle 46 adjacent the outer end thereof,and located in the groove 48 are four arcuate ring segments 50 thattogether constitute stationary stroke-limiting ring means. Slidableaxially in the housing 42 is an annular piston 52 having an inwardlydirected radial flange portion 54 at the inner end thereof which isslidable along the spindle 46 and which is engageable with the ringsegments 50.

The piston 52 is formed with an interior annular recess 56 in the outersection thereof which defines an intermediate shoulder 58 and which isinteriorly threaded at the outer end thereof. Disposed in the recess 56are a sleeve 60 abutting the shoulder 58 and a disc seal plug 62abutting the sleeve 60. A disc retainer 64 is threaded in the recess 56in abutment with the seal plug 62 for securing the latter and the sleeve60 within the recess 56. The sleeve 60 overlies the groove 48 and thering segments 50 when the piston '2 is in retracted position. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, the described arrangement ofthe sleeve 60, seal plug 62 and retainer 64 accommodates mounting of thering segments 50 Within the groove 48 during assembly of the jack 38.The piston 52 is also provided with exterior packing ring seals 66.

The housing end wall 44 is formed with an aperture 68 in which isthreaded one end of a nipple 70. Threaded on the other end of the nipple70 is a coupling sleeve 72 which is provided with a port and annularvalve seat 74. A valve element or ball valve 76 is normally biased intoengagement with the valve seat 74 by a coil spring 78 held in place by aspring retainer 80 secured in the sleeve 72 intermediate of the endsthereof. The outer end of the sleeve 72 is adapted to receive a fitting82 having a port and valve seat 84 and a cooperating spring biased valveelement or ball valve 86. The coupling sleeve 72 and fitting 82 areadapted to be releasably interconnected by a connector nut 88, with theball valves 76 and 86 engaging and thus serving to unseat each other.The fitting 82 is mounted at the end of a flexible hose 90, which, asshown in FIG. 2, is connected to a manually or automatically operatedfluid pump 92.

After the jack assembly 38 has been engaged in the draft gear assembly,and the coupling sleeve 72 and hose fitting 82 have been interconnected,as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, the pump 92 is suitably actuated andhydraulic fluid under pressure is directed through the hose 90 andfitting 82, past the unseated ball valves 86 and 76, through thecoupling sleeve 72, the nipple 70 and the aperture 68, and into thehousing 42. The fluid entering the housing 42 serves to expand the jackand to extend the piston 52 outwardly of the housing 42 as shown in FIG.5, whereupon the draft gear 24 is axially compressed as shown in FIG. 3.The ring segments 50, which are engageable by the piston flange 54 asshown in FIG. 5, serve to limit positively the stroke of the piston 52outwardly of the housing 42.

When extension of the piston 52 is completed, and actuation of the pumpdiscontinued, the coupling sleeve 72 and hose fitting 82 aredisconnected. The ball valve 76 is then engaged by the spring 78 withthe seat 74- and fluid under pressure is thereby trapped within thehousing 42 for maintaining the jack 38 in the expanded position shown inFIG. 5. At this point, the bottom car braces 34 (FIG. 2) are detached,and the draft gear 24, yoke and jack 38 are lowered from the draft gearpocket 22. To remove the jack 38, the hose fitting 82 and couplingsleeve 72 are reconnected, thus causing the ball valves 76 and 86 to beagain unseated, and the pressure release valve of the pump 92 1s openedto drain fluid from the jack housing 42. Upon return of the piston 52 toretracted position, the cross pm 36 and jack 38 are withdrawn from thedraft gear assembly.

While there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat various rearrangements and modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. For use in removing a draft gear assembly from the draft gear pocketof a railway car, a hydraulic jack assembly comprising a housing havingan open end and a closed end wall, a piston slidable axially in saidhousing, said. housing having an aperture therein through which fluidunder pressure may be admitted to said housing for extending said pistonoutwardly of said housing, a central axial spindle secured to saidclosed end wall of said housing and projecting toward the open endthereof, said piston being annular and slidable relative to saidspindle, an annular groove formed at the outer end of said spindle,non-threaded ring means disposed in said groove with approximatelyone-half of said ring means being disposed within said groove and theother half projecting radially outwardly of the outer surface of saidspindle, and an inwardly directed radial flange portion at the inner endof said annular piston which is slidable along said spindle and which isengageable with said ring means to limit the stroke of said piston saidring means is comprised of two or more arcuate segments to facilitateassembly of said ring means in said groove, wherein said piston isformed with an annular recess in the outer section thereof defining anintermediate shoulder, and wherein a sleeve is secured in said recessabutting said shoulder and radially overlying said ring means when saidpiston is in its retracted position.

2. The hydraulic jack assembly of claim 1 wherein a disc seal plug isdisposed in said recess abutting the outer end of said sleeve, whereinsaid recess is interiorly threaded at the outer end thereof, and whereina disc retainer is threaded in said recess in abutment with said discseal plug for securing same and said sleeve within said recess.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,356,899 8/1944 Stutter 921082,430,100 11/1947 Brurnder 254-93 X 2,955,578 10/1960 Flessate 92108OTHELL M. SIMPSON, Primary Examiner D. R. MELTON, Assistant Examiner US.Cl. X.R. 9213

